FIVE years after George Gerbic's headless and dismembered torso was discovered at Cedar Pocket in September 2013, his former partner was sentenced to life in prison for his murder.

Williams was charged with murdering 66-year-old Mr Gerbic last May following a 10-month police investigation, which included an extensive search of the deceased's Tanawha property on the Sunshine Coast.

Williams, 60 at the time of the trial, was sentenced to life in jail for murder and two years for interfering with a corpse, the maximum penalty allowed for that offence, in the Brisbane Supreme Court on July 27.

Jurors reached their verdict after a two-week trial.

Justice Peter Flanagan said Williams "undertook a very sophisticated and detailed cover-up ... that cover-up included lying to so many people".

"This surely must be one of the worst cases of interference with a human body," Justice Flanagan added.

Williams, ineligible for parole until 2034, showed no emotion as she was led out of the dock and back into custody after hearing her sentence.

2. The Lambs

MAIN: Sgt Don Robertson and Snr Constable Neil Magnussen with Peter William Lamb (centre). TOP RIGHT: Stephen Armitage, who along with his son Matthew Leslie Armitage (TOP LEFT) and another man, were convicted of murdering Shaun Barker and dumping his body near Gympie. LEFT: Liam and Rhys Hoynes were charged with multiple drug offences in NSW and in Qld.Renee Albrecht

FEBRUARY 22, 1977, is a date etched in the minds of Gympie locals for the most nightmarish reasons.

Peter William Lamb and Irene Mavis Lamb were both in their 30s when they committed one of the worst crimes in Australian history and murdered three of their own children, and a visiting friend Peter thought was an "evil force", at their Wolvi farmhouse.

The drug-addled pair shot and beat their 17-year-old son Thomas with garden tools before chasing down and killing their two daughters Laurelle, 13, and Brenda, three.

Their New Zealand guest, Lynette Gail Oakley, 26, had been staying with them on the farm prior to the murders.

Homicide detective Keith Smith and Gympie ambulance officer Ron Lawrence, who both saw the horrible scene, later spoke of how the murders had deeply affected them.

Peter Lamb told officers he was "walking to the Lord" when he was found wandering on a nearby road hours after the slaughter.

Irene wandered for about a week in bushland between the horror house and Boreen Point. A Supreme Court jury later found her not guilty on the grounds of unsound mind at the time of the murders.

She spent years in a mental institution before being released into outside care.

Peter committed suicide in jail.

3. Paul Wilson

No CaptionFrances Klein

Criminologist Paul Wilson was jailed for historic child sex offences in late 2016.Contributed

Last year, a Gympie Regional Council staff report on the region's tourism future found Wilson's "Helltown" article, published in Australian Penthouse in 1997, was still damaging our tourism reputation.

Wilson said in the article Gympie was "full of hypocrisy, sexual violence, fear, drugs, murder, incest, pack rape, economic stagnation and rabid right-wing gun fanatics" and that "fathers who rape their daughters are let off with a warning".

CHARGED: Liam and Rhys Hoynes have been charged for multiple drug offences in NSW and in Qld.NSW Police

TWO brothers wanted by New South Wales police for more than three months for allegedly operating two drug labs interstate were found in Gympie.

Twins Liam and Rhys Hoynes, 24, were found with a 30-year-old man at a Tamaree property late last year, where officers allegedly discovered another drug lab with a number of items, including chemicals.

Picture of Cooloola Cove man Matthew Leslie Armitage, who is one of three people accused of murdering Shaun Barker and dumping his body near Gympie.
Picture:
Supplied

Picture of Cooloola Cove man Stephen Armitage, who along with his son Matthew Leslie Armitageand another man, are accused of murdering Shaun Barker and dumping his body near Gympie.
Picture:
Supplied

NEARLY three and a half years after Shaun Barker's remains were found in the Toolara Forest, three men were sentenced to life in prison for his murder.

A Brisbane Supreme Court jury found Matthew Leslie Armitage, 25 and his father Stephen John Armitage, 48, guilty of Mr Barker's murder in September 2017 and William Frances Dean was also found guilty in March.

While handing down the trio's sentences, Justice David Jackson said their brutality included trapping the 33-year-old father-of-one in an Esky and using a hose to "pipe water" into it until he "almost drowned".

He said the men also "smashed his face, kneecaps and every bone in his left hand" before he was murdered and dumped in Toolara forest between December, 2013 and April, 2014.

Justice Jackson sentenced both Armitage men to life in jail with parole eligibility after 20 years.

Dean, considered the "ring-leader" because he assaulted Mr Barker on the Gold Coast before taking him to Gympie in December, 2013.

The 41-year-old was sentenced to life without parole until he serves at least 20 years.

The Armitages returned to court in November 2018 to appeal against their convictions. The appeal court reserved its decision.

The court heard Cleland and his partner, Hope Shannon Peele, 18, each also pleaded guilty to breaching their duty of care by failing to provide medical treatment for injuries that included two broken femurs, broken teeth, a broken hip, broken jaw, multiple broken ribs and injuries to its feet among other serious injuries.

The court was also told Cleland threw the animal down on to concrete because it was defecating in the house.

Magistrate Andrew Sinclair sentenced Cleland, identified as the major offender because of the injuries he caused, to three years probation and recommended anger management counselling. He ordered one year's probation for Peele.

Mr Sinclair ordered the couple to pay $12,000 to the RSPCA for its care for Evie, $10,000 of which was to come from Cleland.

The Gympie Times will be reflecting on more true crime stories next week.